1-1 By: Cain S.B. No. 922
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed March 4, 1997; March 6, 1997, read
1-3 first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
1-4 April 11, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 13,
1-5 Nays 0; April 11, 1997, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to an exemption from regulation under the Private
1-9 Investigators and Private Security Agencies Act for certain peace
1-10 officers.
1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12 SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 3, Private Investigators
1-13 and Private Security Agencies Act (Article 4413(29bb), Vernon's
1-14 Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-15 (a) This Act does not apply to:
1-16 (1) a person employed exclusively and regularly by one
1-17 employer in connection with the affairs of an employer only and
1-18 where there exists an employer-employee relationship; provided,
1-19 however, any person who shall carry a firearm in the course of his
1-20 employment shall be required to obtain a private security officer
1-21 commission under the provisions of this Act;
1-22 (2) except as provided by Subsection (d) of this
1-23 Section, an officer or employee of the United States of America, or
1-24 of this State or political subdivision of either, while the
1-25 employee or officer is engaged in the performance of official
1-26 duties;
1-27 (3) a person who has full-time employment as a peace
1-28 officer, who receives compensation for private employment on an
1-29 individual or an independent contractor basis as a patrolman,
1-30 guard, [or] watchman, or extra job coordinator if the officer:
1-31 (A) is employed in an employee-employer
1-32 relationship or employed on an individual contractual basis;
1-33 (B) is not in the employ of another peace
1-34 officer;
1-35 (C) is not a reserve peace officer; and
1-36 (D) works as a peace officer on the average of
1-37 at least 32 hours a week, is compensated by the state or a
1-38 political subdivision of the state at the rate of the minimum wage
1-39 or higher, and is entitled to all employee benefits offered to a
1-40 peace officer by the state or political subdivision;
1-41 (4) a person engaged exclusively in the business of
1-42 obtaining and furnishing information for purposes of credit
1-43 worthiness or collecting debts or ascertaining the financial
1-44 responsibility of applicants for property insurance and for
1-45 indemnity or surety bonds, with respect to persons, firms, and
1-46 corporations;
1-47 (5) an attorney-at-law in performing his duties;
1-48 (6) admitted insurers, insurance adjusters, agents,
1-49 and insurance brokers licensed by the State, performing duties in
1-50 connection with insurance transacted by them;
1-51 (7) a person who engages exclusively in the business
1-52 of repossessing property that is secured by a mortgage or other
1-53 security interest;
1-54 (8) a locksmith who does not install or service
1-55 detection devices, does not conduct investigations, and is not a
1-56 security service contractor;
1-57 (9) a person who owns and installs burglar detection
1-58 or alarm devices on his own property or, if he does not charge for
1-59 the device or its installation, installs it for the protection of
1-60 his personal property located on another's property, and does not
1-61 install the devices as a normal business practice on the property
1-62 of another;
1-63 (10) an employee of a cattle association who is
1-64 engaged in inspection of brands of livestock under the authority
2-1 granted to that cattle association by the Packers and Stockyards
2-2 Division of the United States Department of Agriculture;
2-3 (11) the provisions of this Act shall not apply to
2-4 common carriers by rail engaged in interstate commerce and
2-5 regulated by state and federal authorities and transporting
2-6 commodities essential to the national defense and to the general
2-7 welfare and safety of the community;
2-8 (12) a registered professional engineer practicing in
2-9 accordance with the provisions of the Texas Engineering Practice
2-10 Act that does not install or service detection devices, does not
2-11 conduct nonengineering investigations, is performing forensic
2-12 engineering studies, and is not a security services contractor;
2-13 (13) a person whose sale of burglar alarm signal
2-14 devices, burglary alarms, television cameras, still cameras, or
2-15 other electrical, mechanical, or electronic devices used for
2-16 preventing or detecting burglary, theft, shoplifting, pilferage, or
2-17 other losses is exclusively over-the-counter or by mail order;
2-18 (14) a person who holds a license or other form of
2-19 permission issued by an incorporated city or town to practice as an
2-20 electrician and who installs fire or smoke detectors in no building
2-21 other than a single family or multifamily residence;
2-22 (15) a person or organization in the business of
2-23 building construction that installs electrical wiring and devices
2-24 that may include in part the installation of a burglar alarm or
2-25 detection device if:
2-26 (A) the person or organization is a party to a
2-27 contract that provides that the installation will be performed
2-28 under the direct supervision of and inspected and certified by a
2-29 person or organization licensed to install and certify such an
2-30 alarm or detection device and that the licensee assumes full
2-31 responsibility for the installation of the alarm or detection
2-32 device; and
2-33 (B) the person or organization does not service
2-34 or maintain burglar alarms or detection devices;
2-35 (16) a reserve peace officer while the reserve officer
2-36 is performing guard, patrolman, or watchman duties for a county and
2-37 is being compensated solely by that county;
2-38 (17) response to a burglar alarm or detection device
2-39 by a law enforcement agency or by a law enforcement officer acting
2-40 in an official capacity;
2-41 (18) a person who, by education, experience, or
2-42 background has specialized expertise or knowledge such as that
2-43 which would qualify or tend to qualify such person as an expert
2-44 witness, authorized to render opinions in proceedings conducted in
2-45 a court, administrative agency, or governing body of this state or
2-46 of the United States, in accordance with applicable rules and
2-47 regulations and who does not perform any other service for which a
2-48 license is required by provisions of this Act;
2-49 (19) an officer, employee, or agent of a common
2-50 carrier, as defined by Section 153(h), Communications Act of 1934
2-51 (47 U.S.C.A. Sec. 151 et seq.), while protecting the carrier or a
2-52 user of the carrier's long-distance services from a fraudulent,
2-53 unlawful, or abusive use of those long-distance services;
2-54 (20) a person who sells or installs automobile burglar
2-55 alarm devices and that does not perform any other act that requires
2-56 a license under this Act;
2-57 (21) a manufacturer, or a manufacturer's authorized
2-58 distributor, who sells to the holder of a license under this Act
2-59 equipment used in the operations for which the holder is required
2-60 to be licensed;
2-61 (22) a person employed as a noncommissioned security
2-62 officer by a political subdivision of this state;
2-63 (23) a person whose activities are regulated under
2-64 Article 5.43-2, Insurance Code, except to the extent that those
2-65 activities are specifically regulated under this Act;
2-66 (24) a landman performing activities in the course and
2-67 scope of the landman's business;
2-68 (25) a hospital or a wholly owned subsidiary or
2-69 affiliate of a hospital that provides medical alert services for
3-1 persons who are sick or disabled, if the hospital, subsidiary, or
3-2 affiliate is licensed under Chapter 241, Health and Safety Code,
3-3 and the hospital does not perform any other service that requires a
3-4 license under this Act;
3-5 (26) a charitable, nonprofit organization that
3-6 provides medical alert services for persons who are sick or
3-7 disabled, if the organization:
3-8 (A) is exempt from taxation under Section
3-9 501(c)(3), Internal Revenue Code of 1986;
3-10 (B) has its monitoring services provided by a
3-11 licensed person or hospital or a wholly owned subsidiary or
3-12 affiliate of a hospital licensed under Chapter 241, Health and
3-13 Safety Code; and
3-14 (C) does not perform any other service that
3-15 requires a license under this Act;
3-16 (27) a person engaged in the business of electronic
3-17 monitoring of a person as a condition of that person's probation,
3-18 parole, mandatory supervision, or release on bail, if the person
3-19 does not perform any other service that requires a license under
3-20 this Act;
3-21 (28) a nonprofit business or civic organization that:
3-22 (A) employs one or more peace officers meeting
3-23 the qualifications of Subdivision (3) of this subsection as
3-24 patrolmen, guards, or watchmen;
3-25 (B) provides the services of these peace
3-26 officers only to:
3-27 (i) its members; or
3-28 (ii) if the organization does not have
3-29 members, the members of the communities served by the organization
3-30 as described in its articles of incorporation or other
3-31 organizational documents;
3-32 (C) devotes the net receipts from all charges
3-33 for the services exclusively to the cost of providing the services
3-34 or to the costs of other services for the enhancement of the
3-35 security or safety of:
3-36 (i) its members; or
3-37 (ii) if the organization does not have
3-38 members, the members of the communities served by the organization
3-39 as described in its articles of incorporation or other
3-40 organizational documents; and
3-41 (D) does not perform any other service that
3-42 requires a license under this Act;
3-43 (29) a charitable, nonprofit organization that
3-44 maintains a system of records to aid in the location of missing
3-45 children if the organization:
3-46 (A) is exempt from federal taxation under
3-47 Section 501(c)(3), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and its
3-48 subsequent amendments;
3-49 (B) exclusively provides services related to
3-50 locating missing children; and
3-51 (C) does not perform any other service that
3-52 requires a license under this Act; or
3-53 (30) a person engaged in the business of psychological
3-54 testing or other testing and interviewing services (to include but
3-55 not limited to attitudes, honesty, intelligence, personality, and
3-56 skills) for preemployment purposes, if the person does not perform
3-57 any other service that requires a license under this Act.
3-58 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
3-59 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-60 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-61 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-62 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-63 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
3-64 * * * * *